Winn Parish, Louisiana

Winn Parish, Louisiana
Winn Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,755. Its seat is Winnfield. The parish was founded in 1852. It is last in alphabetical order of Louisiana's sixty-four parishes. Winn is separated from Natchitoches Parish along U.S. Highway 71 by Saline Bayou, the first blackwater protected waterway in the American South.
History
Winn Parish was established in 1852 from lands which had belonged to the parishes of Catahoula, Natchitoches, and Rapides.
During the Civil War, David Pierson, a young attorney, was elected to represent the parish at the Secession Convention called in January 1861 in Baton Rouge by Governor Thomas Overton Moore. Pierson voted against secession and refused, along with several others, to change his "no" vote at the end of the process when asked to do so to make the final tally unanimous.
That these conscripts refused to fight for the Confederacy is understandable considering that Union support was higher in north Louisiana, and especially high in Winn Parish. The Confederate States Army defeated a Union detachment sent to destroy a salt works in the parish. Winn Parish contributed to the $80,000 raised to build fortifications on the nearby Red River.
After the war, bandits roamed the Natchez Trace or Harrisonburg Road that ran through the lower part of the parish. Among the worst were the West and Kimbrell clan. For seven years they preyed especially on travelers and migrants passing through the area.
In April 1873, white Democrats forming a militia from Winn Parish joined with ex-Confederate veterans from Rapides and Grant parishes against Republican blacks in the Colfax massacre in neighboring Grant Parish. They attacked freedmen defending the parish courthouse and two Republican officeholders in the aftermath to the disputed gubernatorial election of 1872. Among the 80–150 blacks killed were at least 50 who had surrendered; a total of three white men were killed in the confrontation.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of , of which is land and (0.7%) is water.
Major highways
U.S. Highway 71
U.S. Highway 84
U.S. Highway 167
Louisiana Highway 34
Louisiana Highway 126
Louisiana Highway 127
Louisiana Highway 156
Louisiana Highway 471
Louisiana Highway 499
Louisiana Highway 500
Louisiana Highway 501
Louisiana Highway 505
Louisiana Highway 1228
Adjacent parishes
Jackson Parish (north)
Caldwell Parish (northeast)
La Salle Parish (southeast)
Grant Parish (south)
Natchitoches Parish (west)
Bienville Parish (northwest)
National protected area
Kisatchie National Forest (part)
Saline Bayou
Communities
City
Winnfield (parish seat and largest municipality)
Town
Tullos (partial)
Villages
Atlanta
Calvin
Dodson
Sikes
Census-designated places
Jordan Hill
Joyce
Saint Maurice
Unincorporated communities
Packton
Tannehill
Wheeling
Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 13,755 people, 5,483 households, and 3,661 families residing in the parish.
Education
Winn Parish School Board operates local public schools in all of the county.
Corrections
Winn Correctional Center is in an unincorporated section of Winn Parish. Corrections Corporation of America, under contract with Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, once operated the prison.
National Guard
"A" Company of the Louisiana National Guard 199th Forward Support Battalion was previously located in Winnfield, Louisiana. The unit deployed twice to Iraq as part of the 256TH IBCT in 2004-5 and 2010. The unit's Winnfield Armory was closed.
Politics
Notable people
Morris N. Abrams, educator
O.K. Allen, governor of Louisiana
Bryant W. Bailey, politician, Winn Parish sheriff from 1908 to 1912
William C. Edenborn, inventor and industrialist
T. H. Harris, Louisiana state superintendent of education from 1908 to 1940
Huey Long, governor of Louisiana
Earl Kemp Long, governor of Louisiana
Charlton Lyons, Republican candidate for governor in 1964, practiced law in Winnfield prior to 1930
Keith M. Pyburn, state representative for Caddo Parish from 1948 to 1952; born and resided in Dodson in Winn Parish from 1910 to 1925
Terry Reeves, district attorney for Winn Parish from 1991 until his death in office in 2005
Calvin Marion Robinson, sheriff of Winn Parish prior to 1956
Roy Sanders, educator and state representative from Natchitoches Parish from 1948 to 1952; born in Winn Parish
See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Winn Parish, Louisiana
References
Louisiana parishes
1852 establishments in Louisiana
Populated places established in 1852